'Botox Bandit' skips out on plastic surgery bill in San Francisco

A San Francisco plastic surgeon says a man underwent thousands of dollars in cosmetic procedures and skipped out on the bill.

KGO

By Cornell Barnard

Tuesday, January 06, 2015

SAN FRANCISCO --

A local plastic surgeon claims a man underwent thousands of dollars in cosmetic procedures and skipped out on the bill. Now doctors want to know if this "Botox Bandit" has struck before.

A patient was caught on surveillance video before he was about to get "the works" when it comes to cosmetic procedures, but had no intention of paying for it.

"It was Botox, an anti-wrinkle treatment, injectable fillers, which is an anti-aging treatment, and laser resurfacing," said Dr. Larry Fan, a San Francisco plastic surgeon.

Fan said the man is about 40 years old, with dark hair and is 6 feet tall. He knew exactly what he wanted done and said he'd pay with cash.

"The cost of his services was about $5,000 to $6,000," Fan said.

The patient said his name was Paul Harland, but wouldn't provide more information or even an email. When the procedures were done, the man appeared distracted on his cellphone.

"In the process of checking out, instead of checking out and providing payment, he ended up pretending to be talking on his phone, and then continued to walk out the door and sort of said a quick 'I'll be right back.'"

But he never returned.

This may not have been the first free treatment for the Botox Bandit. The makers of Botox sent an email to San Francisco plastic surgeons about a very similar situation last April.

The email warns of a man matching the same description who had the same procedures done by another doctor then ran.

Fan said this Botox Bandit may have swelling and bruising on his face for only a few days.